VN - Ren'Py - Onhold - Circumstances [Ch. 4] [MrHoneyCraft]

Mixed bag so far for me.

Summary:

The MC comes from a horrible upbringing where his father was an abusive criminal and his father's BFF was the same way accept he chose to slap around his own daughter instead. The MC gets attached to her and views her as a little sister while Carrie views him more on the romantic side. Shit goes down, the MC's POS father gets killed which was awesome to see but Carrie ends up being kidnapped.

Time skip happens. The MC goes to find the PI that he hired to find Carrie this lends to him meeting new people such as Zora(Best girl), Malana(second best), Mei(3rd best) and Sophie(meh). MC gets a random call to meet at a very shady hospital where Carrie resides. Shocker.

Carrie has amnesia(Another shocker), scars and she's also ripped and built like a tank. The MC moves her into the apartment he's living in and that sums it up.

Story:

I'm hot and cold on the MC. I like him sometimes but not so much in other scenarios. He comes off as robotic and too serious for the most part. Part of me think that it's because of his upbringing and what he went through and the other part think that it's an issue on the Devs part. One minute he's smart and calculating the next he's getting played by Sophie and second guessing himself. Zora is probably the biggest bright spot for me, she's sweet and I enjoyed her scenes.

I whole Carrie aspect was dicey, as I player I already felt sorry for the situation that she was in but to know that she was kidnapped and probably had god knows what done to her and on top of that she could've been some sort of killer or whatever the hell she's been doing rubs me the wrong way. On top of that there's a rushed sex scene with her that felt empty and lackluster.

Between Sophie being a nuisance most of the 4 chapters and Mei's character going in the yakuza/triad route I really don't know if I'm blown away like others clearly are.

This is definitely a more darker game with very less in terms of romance.

Dialogue:
Shaky at times but not the worse.

Characters:
Normal looking characters for the most part. The expressions could me explored a little more. The MC looks like he's about to have an aneurysm half the time. Zora looks sad and pouty more than she need to. Same with Carrie.

Renders:
Good.

Animations:
So-so

Overall:

Sometimes animations does more harm than help but I get it, everyone's gotta have it. Carrie sex scene for me felt too rushed and I think if there was still renders will plenty of lead up and more dialogue building up to that moment it would've felt more... special.

In the early parts of the story there's plenty of emphasis on Carrie being in love with the MC but that just felt like cheap rushed causal sex. She fucked him and left basically... It was a bummer for me. On top of that the MC who never really showed those types of feelings for Carrie was practically ready to pounce on her whether you chose to go through with the scene or not.

All in all. I don't really know what to make of this story or where it's heading. I don't know what Eris or Wardlow has planned for the MC or Carrie and I don't really like it.

This is a very good start. A bit odd that you have to go through the first chapter to unlock the other options, but it makes sense as you go. The Story is mostly pretty depressing to start with and personally I hate cliff hangers so having to wait for why SPOILER has been missing, where they've been and where they've gone to is a pain in the ass, but it's certainly better than I thought it would be as a whole after that first chapter. If you're unsure of whether you'll like this because of how the 1st part ends, do yourself a favor and keep going. I personally hate seeing people mistreated and seemingly no justice to be done about it, but this is a story I hope that will rectify any animosity felt after the starter. And I'm hopeful that there will be some light at the end of the tunnel.

Overall this VN is pretty good and well on it's way to being a personal favorite, but that'll heavily depend on it sticking the landing (the end). I do have to say I half expected the MC to kick Zora's father's ass when he was holding that gun to him, but one can dream. The models, the setting, the plot are all on point and overall this VN is well coded. I experienced zero errors. 4.5/5 so far. I'll update this review as the story progresses. If you're a fan of intriguing story telling and decent character development I highly recommend this.

As usual, I wish the dev all the best and if you're a fan of this, show the dev some love, write a review and if you can find a way maybe send him a little monetary support too.

pretty good, have some kind of story that's actually somewhat enjoyable to follow, unique character models, and none of them with ridiculously unrealistic body proportions.
looking forward to more updates, hopefully updates are frequent and quick

Story is alright but its nothing new, MC and hes lets call her step sister is in a bad place with parrent beating them up and taking drugs, like i said nothing new, goal is to get away from them and start a new life, hes trying to do that by turning in hes and the step sisters dad for drugs but ofc that wont be easy due to the cops hes working with also has corrupt cops big supprise right...like i said its old news and seen so many times before.

Im a one playthough kinda player and thats one of the main reason game makes no sense to me, you will get choices you cant pick untill after you have finished a chapter, its a very weird setup and removes any freedom of choice in the stuff that matters, so to pick the choices you want you will need to first play though the chapter then replay it before the choices are unlocked? and to me thats just idiotic.

My route it then skips ahead 6 years and your now almost married to the girl which is also a bit annoying so you missed a shitload of stuff like being with her the first time and i guess its due to devs not wanting to make a virgin scene so thats a missed chance of making game a little better instend of just cutting past all the fun stuff of them getting together and your not really given the choice since it just happens if your nice to the young girl in the start so need to be an asshole if you dont want it...which is a stupid way of making routes.

Then it skips forward in time yet again and now your wife has gotten pregnant and next to see your kid being born...this game misses out on everything, you dont get to enjoy the pregnancy part no pregent sex either its all just skipped....

To make it even more weird then you start chapter 2 and it says again 6 years later and your wife has apprently been missing for 6 years? what?
so chapter 2 starts where the kinetic route put you in your first playthrough even when you start over? thats just a guess but its the only thing that makes sense...so why even give you the choice to reply chapter 1 if the story dosent go on from there? its just not making sense to me since next time you see her shes some junkie who has no clue who she is? it really just kills the story and its not a version of the story i ever wanted to see so game was done for me there, well i guess game was finished to me after chapter 1 with a good ending so no reason to play past that which is a weird choices for devs to do and make game so short.

And lets be real the lis they are just ugly, faces arent hot or even pretty and their builds are big tits or huge bimbos so not much of diversity, not that it would help with the faces.

Girls 2/5
They just are pretty, i would even say they look ugly and with no real diversity in builds nothing really works in this area.

Animations 2/5
Short, very fast movements and just lack in quality.

Music 3/5
Standard background stuff nothing special.

Choices 0/5
Worst type of route system ive seen, your forced into a single route where your step sister turns into a junkie, due to not having any choices in first playthrough and thats wheres story will pick up even if you replay the game with all choices unlocked it dosent change a thing when starting chapter 2.

Definitely worth the time, especially if you enjoy an emotionally driven narrative.
I sure hope the dev reconsiders the low interest =goodbye and continues to develop the story. This leaves a massive cliff hangar!

This has so much potential to go down as ones of the great ones. Gripping story, decent animations, solid renders. Such a shame that it's being discontinued. These are the kind of stories I look for. It's still worth a playthrough but how it ends will definitely leave you with an empty feeling.

Really liked this game. Story is really good, with some MAJOR cliff hangers at the end of each update.
Now that i've read what he wrote at the end, im sad. What a shame that its being abandoned. Really hope Dev changes is mind.

Just Found this Game last night and Played it through once not exploring all routes yet, however, the Game is a solid 7 out of 10, it has great potential with a few rewrites in the story, but I have never heard of this game until this update and thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope the Developer changes their mind about discontinuing the game... I would gladly support it on Patreon or Subscribe star...

It was actually pretty good, certainly a level above the rest, a shame it's getting abandoned. It's not without its issues, of course. A good chunk of the LIs are just unlikeable. Not anything nobody will be able to look past, but the overall storytelling is good.

Giving feedback feels pointless now that it's abandoned, but for future reference, "Eve" leaving on the latest chapter could be seen coming a mile away and MC felt too powerless throughout the whole thing. He wasn't a bad MC by any means. He has a backbone and it's overall decent, but for a plot like this, I'd consider a more competent one. An MC that doesn't need to have his objectives completed by external circumstances.

Either way, a more than decent attempt from this dev, but imo, he should've kept going. Considering the number of low-effort games out there, with a little fixing, I'm certain it would've garnered more interest.

PS: Imo, the little rape scene was done poorly. It pretty much gets swept under the rug. It should've affected him a little at least.

After reading the dev message after chapter 4, i just had to write a review.

I discovered this game yesterday and binged it all in 1 sitting. This is so far an easy top 10 for me! The humor and writing in general is really entertaining and the story overall is very engaging. And i cant wait to see where it goes from here.

I really hope this isn't the last update and i will go support the creator on patreon (if he would allow me) right away and i hope more will follow.

Devs have to learn that making a game with unlikable LI's is going to hurt the game dramatically as making a game with unlikeable MC's.

So playing this game you're in for a treat right from the start, granted your warned about the situation beforehand, still it's pretty out there. You find that the MC is born to a shithead father and I don't even remember now what happened to his mother. His father is a drug dealer and scumbag who eventually partners up with another scumbag who is the father of the MC's childhood friend.

MC as a child grows a bond of almost like family with his childhood friend and kinda looks after her and her mother for a time until the mother passes away, and then the MC starts to turn to drugs and gets into trouble himself, until he almost OD's and the little childhood friend (Carrie) finds him and he just decides to stop. A child, just decided to get clean from drugs on his own.....

Then we move into the part where we take over at a camp with Carrie's father, who beats the children with no problem and whenever they don't do what they're told, and his girlfriend, along with MC and Carrie (childhood friend). MC somehow has a contact in the police, (how? don't know.) that he will work with to inform on his father and his scum bag partner, but only if he can find out if the drugs are in the camp. NOT about all the child abuse and horrible living conditions the children are in, or even the MC's previous drug use from being in that environment as a minor, but only if they catch the drugs on hand.

This is only the prologue... Which I will say has the tightest storyline so far of the game. So, without spoiling anything, things go down and one way or another the kids end up free of the parents but the pair of friends end up splitting up, and the MC has been trying "desperately" to find his childhood friend. I say that because you spend the next two chapters goofing off in the city the MC is trying to get set up in. He's an author of a well known book now I guess and he meets an agency to represent him where the head of the agency and his assistant (the only other decent LI) are trying to sign him. There's an actress that works that also is signed to that agency who's another LI. She's just a cock tease who's games we're supposed to play until we finally prove to her we're worthy.... Fun I guess.... Then there's a blind girl we meet in the park one day, who's day you can either make better or just ignore, and a woman we saved from getting drugged in a bar, who thanks us by offering us a place to stay (after telling you you weren't her first choice or even a top choice) and then tries to throw us out over playing a pretty harmless joke on her.

The blind girl LI is fine, she's there to touch on the timid, naive, trope with a little twist. The other two just plain suck. The MC is...... passive for the most part. I don't need some "Sigma Chad" MC in my games but at least give me some agency. Being threatened and told to move out after a prank? Give me the choice to do so, but MC just KNOWS she was angry so it's fine let's just forget it and solve her problems instead. I don't want to stay with someone who throws me out whenever they get angry. The cocktease LI is another one that's an eye roll. There's enough people playing games IRL, I don't want to deal with that shit in my escape too.

All in all, there is nothing really 5 stars about this game. I thought about giving it 3 but some of the writing needs fixing, the plot and characters are kinda weak, the graphics are only okay and could be better so there's nothing really to go "this is alright." Had to give it 2. If you're looking for something immersive and engaging, I don't think this is the one for you.

As of 0.3, it's solid 5 star game.
The first chapter is like a demo with a piece of a story (kind of a prologue), the main story and actual choices comes from chapter 2 and onward.
There are quite a variety of characters, both male and female, every one of them (including MC) has a personality. And dev tells us a story. A good one I might add.
Renders are beautiful, MC doesn't cover his face (finally!), story comes first. And it's kind of a slow burn. There are sex scenes in first chapter and in the actual story MC (in my playthrough at least) is still on his way to having sex with any of his girls.

Love finding these games that no one knows but are kick ass.

Had zero expectations. Let´s be honest: the name isnt great and the visuals arent either.

Just play it. You´ll find out that there´s an actual story and the visuals? Well, you never jerked off to any of them.

I like the points systems, like that when you gain with one girl you lose with another. Love that the MC is aware he´s having too much pussy trown at him but like any guy will take it.

Dont wanna give spoilers. I like it. Really like it.

+ great mc, one of the best i ever played, not a wimp or coward, assertive type
+ mc jokes
+ music
+ Zora definitely best girl right now
+ sad & interesting story
+ renders

- probably no harem route
- a lot of teasing
- slow burn

finally avn with normal mc, he is really well written and i hope it stays that way

Players - If your Father was not just a child abusing complete sack of shit I'm not sure this game resonates. I guess I just had a better childhood than literally all the characters in this game. 2*'s from me and a very slim audience appeal IMHO.

Review as of chapter 2:

Technical: The renders, sound and interface are all great, zero complaints there. All of the different women are unique and so far interesting.

Story: The writing is good, though the translation to English is spotty, but not bad. The opening chapter is self-contained and very dramatic and dark, which solidly sets up the real story which kicks off in chapter 2.

Its early days, but its worth checking out!

Discovered this game by chance because it was mentioned somehwere else. Got to say it was a very interesting trip with quite a unique way to start the adventure.



The way both MC and Carrie suffered left a bit if mark on me with how disturbing some scenes were but it kept me invested about their fate. I really hope in the future episodes for MC to not be so hopeless and can at least be able to stand up and defend himself properly. We shall see in the future because so far I only finished the first episode with all the side endings .



The renders, animations and music were very well made and the endings quite fleshed out. Aside from the cruel one the other 2 were very wholesome and for some people the story could very well end there since its quite satisfying. But then again I suppose the drama must continue and I for one i cannot wait to see what the dev has in store for us next.



The game has such a great potential and I can't wait to see how the whole story unravel itself. Wish the dev all the best and hope to see the project completed.

Sometimes I stumble over games that don't have much publicity and very little Patreon support but which still are surprisingly engaging and well written. Circumstances is such a game.

The first chapter is interesting and the way it is presented is unique. Basically, you can play to different endings, but just one of them sets the later chapters in motion. This leads to the point where you have to replay the first chapter multiple times. Even though I didn't mind as a dedicated AVN player, I am fairly sure that lots of people will stop playing when confronted with that necessity. Please reconsider this. Let people choose to move on or to enforce the main path. Don't force them to replay the whole thing. It's not in your best interest to enforce this even though I recognize that it allows you to see different aspects of the relationship between the MC and Carrie, including a very devastating ending.

If we put this issue aside, the first chapter is gritty, dark but also very wholesome depending on your choices. It really emphasizes the strong bond the MC and Carrie have and the model that is used for Carrie is also very cute. You really want to protect her.

The second chapter basically sets everything back to a starting point and a different plot appears which is based on the first chapter and has one strong connection to it, but the plot is really opening up and could go anywhere.
New LIs are introduced and I liked them all. Even Sophie. They are a bit tropey but they all serve an important purpose, have meaningful conflicts and interesting personalities and secrets, as far as we know of them.

One thing I liked less about the second chapter compared to the first is that the MC is starting to become a Chad. I hope this is not the go-to solution for every conflict from now on, like - conflict appears, Chad saves the day, everyone loves the Superchad - that would really be a loss of quality in terms of writing, especially since we learned so much about his vulnerabilities in the first chapter. It's too early to say though. There is some indication that he might become a Gary Stu kind of character, but it might as well be an illusion because the real foes have yet to appear. I would like to see him rely on his network of friends to solve problems in the future and not fall into this very common genre trap.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Circumstances. I think there is a lot of potential here and I hope that the developer finds enough support and recognition to keep going.

Fantastic story. Its quite a heavy (sad) storyline so if you arent into that sort of thing you may want to skip this one. The renders are quite nice and feel unique.

Although i generally dislike "forced" endings the dev says right in the beginning of the game to save on "STARRED" choices so you can go back and check the other route.

3 of the LIs are quite pretty, while im unsure about the "sister" but thats ok. Different strokes for different folks. All in all i highly recommend it if you like a well written story with quite a bit of suspense and drama.

Rating based on chapter one.
Trigger warning, there's violence and the main story is pretty dark, so don't come here expecting pretty princesses and generic MC.
For me it's a good release, there's not so much content, but a really good attitude on possible routes: there's the main story that will take you to the next chapter, and choices that will lead you to three different endings if I'm not mistaken, be it good or bad, which I find way better than the games with so many branches that you know you miss a lot and it's way to long/hard (that's what she said) to reach.
The four stars I gave may be a bit generous as the models aren't that good (girls are ok, most of the guys aren't, and you have the classic "look at this boy with this pretty face" while young MC looks like a potatoe who got his head shaved at his first day in the army), but by giving less it wouldn drop the rating while there's work on it and the dev can improve the models.
So if you're fine with the tags it's worth your time, good job MrHoneyCraft.